CD Details

Released: March 14, 2006

Originally Released: 2006

Label: Collectables Records

Description by OLDIES.com:

Frank Motley produced some of the most raucous and exciting music of all time. This trumpeter got his first lessons from Dizzy Gillespie -- they hail from the same South Carolina town. He also played trombone, and, as the title indicates, two trumpets at once! This disc features his bluesy and varied first recordings (where Motley is backed by a small swing band with strong blues roots) and contains six previously unreleased takes.

The title refers to Frank Motley's gimmick of playing two trumpets at once, although that trick is rarely heard on Dual Trumpeter, a 14-track collection of Motley's early Gotham label recordings from 1951. The music is mostly jump blues with call-and-response vocals and a few instrumentals. The vocals are handled by a large cast, including Motley himself ("Bow Wow Wow"), Jimmy Harris ("That's All Right"), James Crawford ("Early in the Morning"), Lloyd Smith ("Fat Man"), and T.N.T. Tribble. The crazy "Fat Man Scat" features Smith scatting and then spouting nonsense vocals. "Hurricane Lover" and "Movin' Man" are double-entendre songs, the latter of which uses some unpleasant trashcan imagery. Only five of the cuts were commercially released; the rest are either previously unreleased titles or alternate takes. These recordings are more primitive and less exciting than Motley's later ones for DC, but his nascent style is recognizable at this early stage and the music is nonetheless enjoyable and interesting. ~ Greg Adams